Music Education

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Songs of the Season: A Celebration of Winter Holidays

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Songs of the Season: A Celebration of Winter Holidays

Fall is here, which means the return of Georgia football (Go Dawgs!), puffer vests, and apple everything (sorry, PSL).

It also means lots of repertoire planning and rehearsing for Christmas programs, musicals, and holiday concerts.

I recognize that some of you are in positions where you may be programming a holiday concert or program, whether that's a school or community setting or an interfaith musical celebration with area churches. If you're looking for choral music that touches on various Winter holidays and celebrations, I hope the list of anthems below is helpful to you.

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How to Teach Your Children's Choir to Sing in Parts

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How to Teach Your Children's Choir to Sing in Parts

Part-singing is one of the great joys of choral singing.

The challenge of singing an independent line and that satisfying feeling of creating harmony and musical interest is both fun and motivating for singers (of all ages!).

But how do you teach that?

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6 Singable Collections for Preschool Choirs

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6 Singable Collections for Preschool Choirs

Do you teach a preschool choir?

If so, you know that preschoolers are musical explorers. They love to sing, dance, play, move, and experience music with their whole selves.

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Fixed and Growth Mindsets (What I Learned from Carol Dweck's Book)

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Fixed and Growth Mindsets (What I Learned from Carol Dweck's Book)

I first heard about this book from one of my grad school professors.

We were sitting around a long table one snowy January evening at our annual dinner for current and prospective doctoral students. I asked my professor about books he was reading lately and he named several including Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and Carol Dweck's Mindset.

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A Holiday Wishlist for Music Teachers

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A Holiday Wishlist for Music Teachers

What would you ask for if you were making a holiday wishlist for yourself as a teacher? New music? Curriculum resources? Piano-teaching games?

Today, I’m sharing a few ideas (and a few things that are on my teacher wishlist!) to help get you started. Enjoy!

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How to Use Milanote as a Music Educator

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How to Use Milanote as a Music Educator

I’m always looking for tools that are simple and easy to use. That’s why today, I’m excited to tell you about a (free!) web-based tool I’ve discovered to help me organize ideas, plan lessons, track assessments, and write curriculum content.

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Summer Professional Development for Church Musicians

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Summer Professional Development for Church Musicians

It’s normal to feel a little burnt out after the year we’ve just had. It’s normal to feel tired or frustrated or lost. But what have you learned? What strategies will you keep? How have the events of the last year changed us as teachers, as musicians? What will we do differently going forward?

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7 Engaging Games for Elementary Music

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7 Engaging Games for Elementary Music

Games and musical activities are a fun and engaging way to introduce and reinforce new musical concepts and develop musical skills like listening, singing, expression, coordination, and internalizing a sense of steady beat.

Today, I'm sharing a few of my favorite musical games and activities for elementary music classes, children's choirs, and elementary group classes.

Three Questions for Music Educators

Three Questions for Music Educators

Next week (May 24-28), I’m hosting the 3rd annual Music Education Basics, a free 5-day workshop for music educators.

With 60+ minutes of practical content, Music Education Basics is designed to give you clarity in your teaching and a fresh dose of inspiration and practical teaching ideas you can use right away.

But before you pull a new spiral notebook off the shelf and start mapping out ideas and making plans, let’s take a few minutes to assess where we are right now.

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Digital Resources for Virtual Children's Choir Rehearsals

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Digital Resources for Virtual Children's Choir Rehearsals

This year has brought some unprecedented challenges and the global pandemic has changed the way choirs and musical ensembles gather and make music together. Many choirs moved to online rehearsals this spring, using Zoom or Facebook Live to stay connected and try to continue making music the best they could. But with the technology we have available to us and unpredictable internet speeds at home, we’ve all learned that it’s really not possible to sing or play together in real-time.

Today, I’m sharing some helpful digital tools and resources that can be used in online choir rehearsals (synchronous or asynchronous) or in-person, if and when you’re able to return to that. You’ll find digital tools, game ideas, teaching strategies, and curriculum resources that were designed especially for distance-learning situations.

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

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